Trade, taste and ecology: honey in late medieval Europe

Abstract

Often considered a ubiquitous and widely available sweetener, this article represents the first study of the honey trade across Europe in the later Middle Ages. Demand for honey, fuelled by diverse cultural and social factors, encouraged an international trade that by the late medieval period spanned the Mediterranean, western Atlantic, and the North and Baltic Seas, connecting peoples, traders and landscapes from Beirut to Novgorod. As a natural product whose make up and taste was influenced by the environments and ecology in which it was produced, the honeys available to European contemporaries could vary significantly in taste, colour and viscosity, influencing reputation, price and societal value. A study of the honey trade in late medieval Europe sheds new light on how cultural developments, social trends, economic practicalities and political events influenced the consumption of a widely available but diverse commodity.